And now, as the night was senescent And nebulous lustre was born, Arose with a duplicate horn— Astarte's bediamonded crescent Distinct with its duplicate horn. And I said "She is warmer than Dian: She has seen that the tears are not dry on These cheeks, where the worm never dies, And has come past the stars of the Lion To point us the path to the skiesTo the Lethean peace of the skiesCome up, in despite of the Lion, To shine on us with her bright eyesCome up through the lair of the Lion, With love in her luminous eyes." But Psyche, uplifting her finger, Said "Sadly this star I mistrust- In terror she spoke, letting sink her In agony sobbed, letting sink her Plumes till they trailed in the dust- I replied "This is nothing but dreaming: Its Sybilic splendor is beaming With Hope and in Beauty to-night : See!-it flickers up the sky through the night! Ah, we safely may trust to its gleaming, And be sure it will lead us aright— We safely may trust to a gleaming Since it flickers up to Heaven through the night." Thus I pacified Psyche and kissed her, But were stopped by the door of a tomb— And I said "What is written, sweet sister, Then my heart it grew ashen and sober On this very night of last year That I journeyed—I journeyed down here— Well I know, now, this dank tarn of Auber, This ghoul-haunted woodland of Weir." THE BELLS. I. HEAR the sledges with the bells— What a world of merriment their melody foretells! While the stars that oversprinkle In a sort of Runie rhyme, To the tintinabulation that so musically wells From the jingling and the tinkling of the bells. II. Hear the mellow wedding bells, What a world of happiness their harmony foretells! To the turtle-dove that listens, while she gloats Oh, from out the sounding cells, What a gush of euphony voluminously wells! How it swells! How it dwells On the Future! how it tells To the rhyming and the chiming of the bells! III. Hear the loud alarum bells Brazen bells! What a tale of terror, now, their turbulency tells! How they scream out their affright! In a clamorous appealing to the mercy of the fire, And a resolute endeavor By the side of the pale-faced moon. How they clang, and clash, and roar ! Yet the ear it fully knows, By the twanging, And the clanging, How the danger ebbs and flows; Yet the ear distinctly tells, In the jangling, And the wrangling, How the danger sinks and swells, By the sinking or the swelling in the anger of the bells Of the bells Of the bells, bells, bells, bells, In the clamor and the clangor of the bells! IV. Hear the tolling of the bells- What a world of solemn thought their monody compels ! How we shiver with affright For every sound that floats From the rust within their throats And the people-ah, the people- And who tolling, tolling, tolling, Feel a glory in so rolling On the human heart a stone- And their king it is who tolls; |